#tbt – The Fabulous Elektro-Pacer

As part of my continuing series of posts on running gear through the ages, I present to you this ad for THE ELEKTRO-PACER! from April of 1964:

Click to enlarge

Doesn’t that earplug look comfortable? And once you’ve set the metronome to the appropriate rate for MAXIMUM EFFORT WITH MINIMUM FATIGUE, how do you keep from jostling the knob while you run?

While I have no reason to believe this device did not operate as promised, the fact that it was sold by Radionics of Georgia doesn’t help. Radionics is a pseudoscience that claims disease can be diagnosed and treated with a kind of energy similar to radio waves. Sort of like minimalist running. right? <ducks>